Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by echlebek 3320 days ago
Do you have some evidence that any of that can harm children?
2 comments

It's a social norm that we don't sit 5 year olds down in front of a YouPorn stream. Nobody waits for some peer reviewed study before making that decision - it's simply just not done. It's considered weird, perverse, crass, inappropriate.

If you feel that norm needs to change, and that children should in fact watch hardcore pornography without anyone batting an eye, you may certainly work towards those changes. But you should expect resistance because that norm is powerful.

>Nobody waits for some peer reviewed study before making that decision - it's simply just not done.

Actually, Alfred Kinsey did some stuff as bad or worse with children, and yet his work has become the basis for an entire field of study. (It was so bad that a movie had to be made defending him.)

Well right now the average age of virginity loss is ~17 now compared to ~21 in 1950[0]. it is not particularly uncommon for middle schoolers to be having sex these days. There's also a lot more readily available sexual content for all ages now than in 1950. (yes correlation not causation, but there's clearly some connection here)

there are plenty of full grown adults who are irresponsible with sexual activity (spreading stds, unwanted pregnancies) so can we just agree that MAYBE middle schoolers shouldnt be exposed to so much sexuality? that maybe a 14 year old has no chance of grasping the consequences and responsibility of sex?

[0] http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/how-early-you-lose-your...

I think you are missing the point of the case. The obscene lyrics did not actually exist in the song. The various versions of obscene lyrics were most likely created by kids themselves for fun. This was at a time when obscenity was scrubbed from public media, but this didn't mean the kids didn't know about dirty words and sex.

You are assuming exposure to sexuality in media is what causes young people to have sex? I think sex have existed longer than mass media.

You couldn't find a better reference than the Daily Mirror?

One also might say that the pill had something to do with the change.

About 2-3% of Adults in England get an STD [0], so 97% are at least responsible / lucky enough to avoid them.

Educating the 14 year olds is the only way - you can't stop the rest.

[0]: https://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2010/aug/25/stds-e...